State Bank Of India v. The Deputy Commissioner Of Income-Tax (Tds) And Others

IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL Writ Petition No. 2268 of 2013 (M/S) State Bank of India through its Assistant General Manager …..Petitioner Versus The Deputy Commissioner of Income-Tax (TDS) and others ......….Respondents Present: Mr. Bishwajit Bhattacharya, Senior Advocate assisted by Mr. D.S.Patni, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. H.M. Bhatia, Advocate for the Revenue/respondent nos. 1, 2 & 3. Dr. Udyog Shukla, Advocate for respondent no. 4. Mr. Vikas Pande, Advocate for respondent no. 5. Hon’ble Alok Singh, J (Oral). Undisputedly, Appeal No. 3914/DEL – 2013 and 3937/DEL – 2013 are pending disposal before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal against the orders passed by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals). Mr. Bishwajit Bhattacharya, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner Bank fairly, for which he is known at the Bar, submits that basic authority of the Department to assess the tax or the question as to whether deposit can be categorized as Term Deposit or Charged to Income can be raised and decided by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. Since appeals are pending disposal before the Tribunal, wherein the points raised in the present writ petition can be raised and decided by the learned Tribunal, therefore, it would not be appropriate to permit parallel proceeding in the shape of present petition before this Court. In view of the above, I am not inclined to entertain this writ petition and the same is hereby dismissed. However, petitioner shall be at liberty to raise all the points raised in the present petition before the Appellate Tribunal, wherein appeals are pending against the orders passed by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) and it goes without saying that in the event of raising of the points, learned Tribunal shall record its opinion on the points raised by the Bank/assessee. Mr. H.M. Bhatia, learned counsel appearing for the Revenue submits that appeals itself may be decided at the earliest, preferably within a period of six months from the date a certified copy of this order is placed before the learned Tribunal. Order accordingly. CLMA No. 10120 of 2013 also stands disposed of accordingly. Avneet (Alok Singh, J.) 1.4.2014